Designing a Planet

The 2024 George Seddon Memorial Lecture by Professor Richard Weller

Tuesday 6 August 2024, 6pm-7.15pm | Ross Lecture Theatre, Physics, UWA. The UWA Friends of the Ground s will host light refreshments in the foyer after the event for a gold coin donation.

In a lecture touching on history, nature, design and conservation, Richard Weller will reflect on the idea that humanity is the first species in evolutionary history to self-consciously design a planet.

Richard will also present a synopsis of his latest book To The Ends of the Earth: A Grand Tour for the 21st Century in which he surveys 120 places he considers most pertinent in the world today. This book will be on sale at the event.

Richard Weller is professor and former chair of landscape architecture and urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania, where he (together with Fritz Steiner) established the Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology. He is co-founder (with Tatum Hands) and former creative director of LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture, founding director (with Vladimir Sitta) of Australian design firm Room 4.1.3., and holds adjunct professorships at The University of Western Australia and the University of New South Wales. In 2012 he received an Australian national teaching award for a sustained to commitment to design education, and in 2017 and 2018 he was listed by Design Intelligence as one of the top 25 most respected design educators in America.

His publications include Boomtown 2050: Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City (UWAP, 2009), Made in Australia: The Future of Australian Cities (UWAP, 2013), Transects (ORO Editions, 2014), Design with Nature Now (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2019), Beautiful China: Reflections on Landscape Architecture in Contemporary China (ORO Editions, 2020), The Landscape Project (AR+D Publishing, 2022), and An Art of Instrumentality (ORO Editions, 2023). ‘The Atlas for the End of the World,’ Weller’s recent research work on biodiversity and cities, has been published in National Geographic and Scientific American, while his related research and design project to establish a ‘World Park’ is currently being considered for implementation by UNESCO.

This annual memorial lecture is presented by the Institute of Advanced Studies and the Friends of the Grounds at The University of Western Australia and honours the life and work of Emeritus Professor George Seddon AM. George Seddon (1927-2007) was an Emeritus Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Melbourne and a Senior Honorary Research Fellow in English at The University of Western Australia. He was a Fellow of the Royal Australian Planning Institute, the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences, and the Australian Academy of Humanities. His books include Swan River Landscapes, A Landscape for Learning and Sense of Place. He was awarded the Eureka Prize from the Australian Museum in 1995, the Mawson Medal from the Academy of Science in 1996 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Planning Institute of Australia.